Army to launch new ERP competition soon

Jul. 2, 2014 - 06:00AM
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COL Patrick Burden, the General Fund Enterprise Business System Project Manager, US Army's PEO EIS, promises a draft solicitation for a new contract writing system within months. (Rob Curtis/Staff)

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The Army plans to issue a draft solicitation to industry in the next few months for a new contract writing system, according to Col. Patrick Burden, who is overseeing the program.

The Army Contract Writing System (ACWS) is envisioned as a single enterprise contract writing and management system that will integrate with other Army enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and replace the existing Standard Procurement System (SPS)/Procurement Desktop-Defense (PD2) and Procurement Automated Data and Document System (PADDS). ACWS is expected to have about 8,000 users at 280 sites worldwide.

The Army’s top acquisition executive, Heidi Shyu, approved the requirement for the new system on May 15.

Burden, project manager of the Army’s General Fund Enterprise Business Systems (GFEBS), said the Army has not yet decided what the platform for the new ACWS will be. He said the new system will interface with several Army financial management systems, including: GFEBS, which manages activities for the Army’s general funds; the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP), which manages wholesale supply and Working Capital Fund activities; and the Army Corps of Engineers Financial Management System.

“Now what we haven’t done is determined what platform will be used for that particular requirement. So it could be the same commercial-off-the-shelf product that we’re executing and using for GFEBS or it could be another niche contract writing system provider that we will have to build an interface or integrate that COTS product with all of our financial management systems,” Burden said in a July 1 interview.

GFEBS uses an SAP platform.

“It could be another SAP product that resides in and interfaces with those other three. Or it could be a separate COTS product that we will either build an interface to GFEBS, LMP, CFEMS or integrate that module within GFEBS, LMP, CFEMS,” he said.

A final RFP for the ACWS will go out in the next fiscal year, Burden said.

The Army spent roughly $87 billion on contracts last year and is expected to spend significantly less — $65 billion — this year, Harry Hallock, the deputy assistant secretary for procurement at the Army, said earlier this year.